Have you ever wondered how they got photos of the events in our history books? Well the first camera was made in 1816 and by 1850 It was used to document historical events. Photojournalists past and present go to war zones and places that just had natural disasters to document what happened for the world and future generations to learn. 

In the article “Teaching History with Photographs” Larry A. Viskochil says, “Photography’s main gift to mankind was as a new tool for communication.” The creation of photography is a gift to the future generations because they can now see what has happened and it leaves a physical timeline of the truth. Having photographs allows us to learn and teach people who weren’t there, like the younger generations. The saying “seeing is believing” is something a lot of people live by with cameras and photos coming from across the world, more people are more likely to believe and give the news more of their time.

In the article “Bringing History to Life in Elementary School by Analyzing Photos” Erin Piedmont says,  “I’ve found photographs powerful in fostering students’ historical thinking;” Visibly showing students, especially younger students historical events, helps create a memory of this event so that they can better understand what happened in the past and can do better for the future. 

Erin Piedmont also said, “Children should learn about history in ways that promote critical thinking and encourage them to better understand the world by making connections between past and present.” Students should learn history in a way that they can understand and remember. In a way they can enjoy and use their critical thinking to better understand. 

Mr. Calhoun, the photography teacher at SPASH says “that in newspapers from before cameras they used to draw what they saw and put that where the pictures are now in the newspaper.” Now that there are real photos of the events the newspaper is talking about, people started to pay more attention. Mr. Calhoun said “Photography is a way to tell stories about the people, the world and the environment.” The invention of the camera was a game changer on teaching and showing people what they couldn’t see. But now they can see, understand, and believe the news outlets.

It is very important to know how to analyze photography as it is fundamental in the teaching and learning of historical events. Not only does it help a younger group of people to understand complex situations but it is easier, faster and non-changeable information. 

Without words there is no misinterpretation or miss translations. Photography is a universal way of being able to communicate with people all over the world where they have different languages and different cultures. Being able to communicate all over the world to universally understand a story is the invention of the camera’s gift to mankind.